Thursday, March 16, 2006

Flautas

I stopped by our local Hispanic grocery yesterday to watch fresh corn tortillas rolling down the assembly line, and picked up a fresh, steamy package of mini-tortillas for flautas. Flautas are simple: cover the bottom of a 10" cast iron pan with a layer of canola oil. When hot, put in a small corn tortilla for one or two seconds, just long enough to soften a bit. Pat dry on towels, then spread a line of refried beans slightly off center. Roll the flauta up as tightly as you can, then lay it in the hot oil seam side down (so the seam will seal shut). Fry until golden, turn and fry on the other side, about 30 seconds each side. Drain and blot, pack wrapped in foil.I made four flautas for shmoo along with jicama, sugar snap peas, and applesauce with walnuts to sprinkle on top.I made the same for myself and packed it in my brand new Medium Cafe Bag from Tom Bihn. Tom Bihn is going to use some of my pictures in a Laptop Lunch display in their store, and sent me this great bag to say thank you -- I love how my lunch box and Klean Kanteen water bottle fit side-by-side so perfectly!Verdict: "I have ten fingers up, that's how good these are!" Shmoo ate all his applesauce, flautas, and veggies, then snitched half my jicama. The walnuts went untouched; I guess today wasn't a walnutty day. 10 fingers.

I have the 27oz. size and the stainless steel cap. We like our Klean Kanteens. I think their "2 Tier Food Container" is interesting-looking, too. A nice option if you want to avoid plastic, but maybe not manageable for a kid.

i have there two tier metal food thing and it is really awsome, i think it could be a bit hard for a kid to use, not sure though, it is really well made and we have used it for a number of train trips where we ate lunch on the train

i am going to make flatas soon, the farmers market near me has the most amazing vegan ones, he doesn't use beans intsead he used tvp and i have been wanting to figure out how to make them on my own, i think i might try your recipe first

The difference between a flauta and a taquito is that the flauta is made using a flour tortilla and the taquito is made with a corn tortilla. I love taquitos and so does my son... am overdue to make some more!

What a great idea!! I am an omni but got turned on to your site by a friend and now come back every day. Have been inspired to make much more healthy choices etc. Thanks for letting us non-vegans stop by and get some inspiration/education too. Yahoo for flautas!!!

The true difference between flautas and taquitos should be shape. Flautas are tubular, and taquitos are more like sealed pockets. However, more often than not, flautas are called taquitos and taquitos, which are shaped kind of like a half-moon and seal (as opposed to a taco, which rolls but doesn't seal), aren't generally made by people outside of Mexico / Mexican families anymore.

But essentially, there's no difference in *taste*. I find it's harder to keep taquitos from getting soggy than flautas, though.

If you like flautas, try boiling potatoes and then mashing them with all sorts of seasoning (don't forget the chile blend!) and using them as a flauta filling. Yum!

>>how much of a kick back do you get if us schmucks buy the goods you advertise?

With the exception of the "Sponsored Links" on the sidebar, I get no money from anyone -- I'm not paid for what I'm doing. These are just products I'm using and enjoying and think others might find interesting or helpful. I'm just trying to share ideas, not advertise.

I do get a commission on "Vegan Family Favorites", and on the Amazon link; that's why I labeled them as "Sponsored Links".

I noticed people keep asking Jennifer when her cookbooks coming out. Here is some information on the publishing world with a large to medium publisher takes one to three years for a book to be publish on average after the * CONTRACT * is signed. If Self-publishing it takes three to six months after book is written to have it available for the public.

It might be a while .

* There is probably a reason why Jennifer is not answering the question about when the cookbook will be out.

Oh wow. I love this blog. I've been looking here everyday for new recipe ideas. I've been a vegetarian for two years or so, and this is really encouraging! I had no idea you could even veganize some of the things you do.

I love this website. Erik Marcus from vegan.com loves this website. Vegan Porn people love this website. (VP is not real porno, it's info!)

Keep up the good work Jennifershmoo.I am glad for moms like you and when I have/adopt a kid one day (s)he will be the food envy of all his/her peers! My mom is pretty awesome, too. At thanksgiving she veganized everything that can be vegan (my family is omni), even the desserts! Moms are awesome. Now if I could just get my dad to stop eating cows....

Hi, all: More info on the taquitos from the locals here...taquitos are made with corn tortillas with a thin layer of filling and tightly rolled and then deep fried like tortilla "sticks." Flautas are either made with corn or flour tortillas (more often with corn) and stuffed a bit more with filling than taquitos and prepared similarly to how Jennifer prepared them on a special iron skillet called a comal and not deep fried.

You can find the best deals on jicama at a Mexican/Latin or an Asian market. I love jicama cold or baked as jicama "fries." Speaking about jicama...I am so excited that I found a source for jicama seeds and I am going to plant some very soon in my garden. I will see how they do here in So Cal.

The Mexican-food day reminds me of my time in Mexico... they really like to eat pig there, so my host mother took me to a little health food shop and bought various fake pig products. For lunches, I often got "ham"-and-bean sandwiches. Except, she would wrap the sandwiches in napkins, which would get stuck in the oozing beans and, anyway... Talk about high-protein. : P

I have never written in a comment and I've just recently stumbled across your website. I just want to write in and tell you that you are an inspiration to people like me who eat ovo-vegetarian. I aspire to be vegan and you light the way!

I just learned about your site this week and now am offically addicted! I am a food voyuer and a fan of neatly packed lunches and a vegan (going on 9 years) to boot! This is my dream site. Thank you for doing what you do! ps - I blogged about you on my site yesterday!

Thanks for the inspiration. I have an old Tom Bihn computer bag for a laptop that no longer works. The bag is roughly equivalent to the Medium Cafe Bag, but it has a little padding. It was just sitting in the closet. But now, I have an insulated bag for my Laptop Lunch & a water bottle. Very cool! I've been needing something just a bit different than the case the Laptop Lunch box comes with!!

And, yes, the food is great also. You've been inspiring me to try new things to put in my packed lunches and dinners.

MommaSchell, I hear that jicama vines are very humongous, but I'd like to try growing them too, since the stores here don't carry jicama. Where did you get the seeds? Thx. I wonder how many jicamas one gets to a plant, do they multiply like potatoes...

Okay, I did a little looking for jicama seeds. I didn;t find them, but apparently you can grow jicama from chunks like potatoes. Be sure to get ones that haven't been sprayed to retard sprouting, so you need organic ones. Here's what I found on the web:

I don't have the seeds, but if you have a grocery store that carries Latin or Asian groceries or a Latin or Asian neighborhood go into a grocery store and pick up a tuber. You can plant the tuber in the ground and grow it. Be careful with the seed and seed pods if you have kids around because they are poisonous and narcotic.

you got a write-up in our local paper here in Kentucky. I have a nearly-7 first-grader so you touch me where I live. Of course I've already raised a 25 and 27 year old so you can see I am in a different "demographic". :) I love what I've seen so far and I'm adding you to my bloglines newsfeeder.

I just have to say THANK YOU THANK YOU!! I've started bringing my daughter to the computer to see what Shmoo is eating for lunch, and she has actually been willing to try some new foods (she's as picky as picky gets!). We ordered our own Laptop Lunch Kit and she is really excited about her Shmoo inspired lunches!

What an awesome recipe! BTW, what kind of vegetarian/vegan refried beans do you use? Do you buy canned, or do you make your own? I live alone and therefore like to buy prepackaged; I often can't eat a whole recipe of homemade refried beans before they spoil.

i had to ask my husband, who is Mexican, about the difference between flautas and taquitos. his quick response was "flautas are hard; taquitos are soft." which makes sense, as the flautas are fried, unlike taquitos.

we used to live in south texas, where taquitos (and breakfast tacos!) were the most common food. there was a taqueria (or 2 or 3)on every corner (they weren't vegan though!) so i am missing tacos now!

When I lived alone I would make large pots of pintos and freeze them (they freeze really well), and then just defrost the quantity I wanted at any given time. When you defrost the frozen beans, you can refry them then!

If you guys like jicama, you need to try it sprinkled with a little bit of lemon and powdered red chile. To DIE for. The spicy and sweet are ideal compliments.

This is a very late comment BUT I have been obsessing about making these since I saw your post. I am omni but have been so inspired by this site that I have been really considering my dietary choices etc. Anyhoo I made spicy TVP and veggie refried bean flautas and they came out so so good! Thanks for the ideas.